NETGEAR A6200-100NAS 802.11ac Dual Band Wi-Fi Adapter IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n USB 2.0 Up to 300+900Mbps Wireless Data Rates NETGEAR A6200-100NAS 802.11ac Dual Band Wi-Fi Adapter IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n USB 2.0 Up to 300+900Mbps Wireless Data Rates

Pros: Expected elevated throughput, but actually when connected to "n" WiFi, the transfer will be at the latter.

Cons: Original drivers for Win 7 OK. These drivers do not work with Win 8. Updated frivers for Win 8 resulted in numerous and continual drop of the network connection. The new beta recently was just as bad. In fact, having to withdraw and replace the adapter repeatedly resulted in breakage of the attach fittings of the USB plug to the antenna case. Time in service: 2 months.

Other Thoughts: The experience with this item is unusual for a Netgear product, IMO. Hate to lose 40 dollars, but good old Belkin is now doing a fabulous job at the same high transfer rate.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Jack,

Thanks for your honest review. We're glad that in the past you have had great luck with our products and also thank you for mentioning that. It does mean a lot to us. We hope that we can also help fix what's going on with the A6200. Do you still have the adapter?

If so, let us know what firmware the adapter is running as well as the exact driver version you have installed for Win8, as well as the make/model of your main router. You can email us at newegg@netgear.com and we'll be happy to get some troubleshooting going for you.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: None really..

Cons: *had to wait a while for the Windows 8 Driver
*always losing connection when using the Extender
*price was way tooooo high

Other Thoughts: Do not use the extender. I was loosing connection constantly, even when transferring files to my NAS. I plugged it in directly to a USB3 port and that issue seem to have disappeared. This is no faster than the Asus PCI Wireless N card I replaced. Transferring files to my NAS was only 7-17MBS (gigabit network).

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Joe,

We're glad that you report the adapter is working "a lot better" with the Windows 8 driver, but you mention several problems, such as dropped connections. Can you clarify whether you are seeing these problems with the newest Windows 8 driver, or if you were seeing these problems with the old drivers?

We'd like to find out exactly what problems you're seeing, and match that to the exact software version you're using, so we can find the root of the problem. Please feel free to email us at newegg@netgear.com with as much info as you can, and we'll be happy to help.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: I have the Netgear R6300 and the Netgear A6200 WiFi Adapter
Comcast is our ISP, and our home network combines,
6 wired windows 7 units,
1 wifi windows 7 machine with (the old netgear Wireless n300 adapter card),
1 wifi windows 8 Acer tablet, dual screen (45" Samsung HDTV as second monitor), with the Netgear A6200 Adapter

the wired LAN gives us data transfer speeds of up 120MBps PC to PC
the Netgear A6200 (connects at a consistent 866Mbps) and data transfers up to 35-50MBps
the old wifi (connects at the 300Mbps) and data transfers reflect it 11-12MBps

Note:
the R6300 router is locate on our main floor, and the wireless units are in our basement, strangely enough,
the A6300 adapter dropped to 577mbps when I moved in another area of the house, which made the signal go through 2 brick walls and 2 other walls, at

about 40 ft.

it is a sweet combo, things can run pretty much straight out of the box,
however, on close inspection some of the router options needed changing, while it appeared everything, worked fine, some websites with live webcams

would not show, but normal videos, etc, continued to function.

We didn't install the Netgear Genies on the machines, though you could, we just installed the drivers, and let windows handle the rest.


here are the router options we changed to make it all work

to get max a/c rate for the A6200 adapter you need to
1) use the WPA2-PSK[AES] settings

Setup > Wireless Setup > select WPA2-PSK[AES]
set mode : Up to 1300 Mbps

2) you need to insure WMM is enabled

Setup>Qos Setup> check the Enable WMM (WiFi multimedia) settings and Apply

3) not essential, but may increase through put rate a little
set RIP direction and version

Setup > LAN Setup >
RIP Direction [BOTH]
RIP Version [RIP_M2]

4) when connecting you need to make sure to connect to the 5GHz a/n/ac Network


router setting(s) I changed

1) to ensure live webcams feeds worked, we had to disable a 2.4GHz setting

Advanced Setup > Wireless Settings > uncheck Enable 20/40Hz Coexistence

though they warn against it, they also state with it checked your 2.4GHz could be hindered

--------------

Hope this wasn't too wordy, good luck

Cons: none that I can thing of

Other Thoughts: We also tried the A6200 adapter plugged into both the USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, which seemed not to make any difference

Pros: Works fine when I'm actively surfing the web, Install was easy.

Cons: Idles at super low speeds (is this a feature that can be turned off?) I need an active full connection to the internet at all times, and this adapter doesn't seem to have an option for that.

Other Thoughts: I run a gaming server off my PC and need a full internet connection at all times, so my server is almost always showing a low connection rate when I'm not actively using my PC (I try not to use it so most of the resources go to the game). I live in a two story apartment and I have to keep my Modem and router (also a netgear) downstairs and my PC upstairs.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Ken,

We'd like to help and to learn more about the issues you're having using this on your gaming server. We have some questions for you:

- What's the OS/version installed on the gaming server?
- Where are you seeing the low connection rate? Is it the speed from the Wireless Network Connection Status?
- When you're actively using the PC, what rate do you usually get? And when you are not actively using it, what rate are you seeing then?
- Despite what rate is displayed, are you seeing actual poor performance from your gaming server when it is not actively being used? Can you describe in more detail?

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: None.

Cons: Everything about this adapter is a con. I did a review on another site about this router probably 6-8 weeks ago. I had already had it for a while. I could never get it to stay connected. I know what I am doing. Suffice it to say that I did everything humanly possible to make this work. Going so far as to remove all electronics from the room except the router, trying 4 different routers, backing up and formatting the drives, (Thinking of a possible but unlikely Registry issue), starting with my SSD, which I removed, reinstalled on my 2TB WD Black, and every possible Network troubleshooting method known to exist. I have designed and built Headends that were easier to troubleshoot than this junk. At least I was always able to find a solution. Well, after my review on the other site I was contacted by email, (as many were apparently) by Netgear Engineers. Explained my entire process from basic to advanced troubleshooting. Of course there was no reply with a solution, just a thanks, because there is no solution.

After the frustration of this thing not working (And now being the proud permanent owner of 2 worthless Adapters and 3 AC routers) I came to the conclusion that, after all, the driver was still in Beta and is is a new Standard, so I uninstalled, went back to Win 7 and back to my old Linksys N rig and waited. When the latest Rev. of the driver came out I went back to 8, setup the adapter AND IT WAS WORSE THAN WITH THE OLD DRIVER. I have been trying for a day and a half to make this thing work..AGAIN. It would not stay connected for more than 30 seconds, now it will not connect at all, whether with the stand alone driver or the full up install. I get a connection beep, it shows up in the Device Manager as other hardware, but even after installed properly will not recognize the driver. The first time I installed again yesterday I started working, again intermittently. Then, I took at look at the driver. Have no idea what driver was installed but it was not the 8 Beta or the latest version and it was a fresh OS install. I can only assume that it was an auto loaded Driver from the Win 8 driver database that was not AC as initially i had it installed as stand alone. After uninstalling that driver, uninstalling the hardware, and re-installing the 8 standalone, same problem as a month ago. Uninstall, re-install full up version, same problem, try again, now it will not recognize the driver. IT DOES NOT WORK. This is proven by a simple web search, everyone just about is having the same issue and has had the same issue since launch and no fix.

Other Thoughts: This thing will work in Windows 7, in N mode only and will not work at all at 5ghz. There are now alternatives that only cost $20, not $69 and may work, I will be finding out soon. My recommendations to anyone considering the AC upgrade, find another option, this option isn't it. I have used Netgear products for a long time without issue. I will no longer purchase any Netgear product until this fiasco is corrected. Microsoft's Developer preview has been out 19 months. That's 19 months for Netgear to get this right. They haven't done it, and if it isn't fixed soon they will lose my business permanently.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi SeniorArmorNCO,

Thanks for your honest review -- we want to help you get things running. Could you tell us the make/model of your computer? We want to send you a compatible driver as well as manual installation instructions so we can get you back up and running quickly.

Please email us at newegg@netgear.com and we'll be in touch.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: Looks alright.

Cons: It only gives 175 Mbps connection. What happen to 1.2 Gbps Netgear was boasting about. There is still no official Windows 8 software provided by Netgear. Just the beta driver which is quite buggy, drops the connection occasionally.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi dano,

Thanks for your review -- we'd like to take a look into the connection problems you mentioned, and have a few questions for you:

- Did you observe the link rate from Windows' wireless connection status? The actual link rate depends on various factors such as distance, WiFi congestion, and router configuration …etc.

- What is the make and model of your main router? What wireless mode and frequency are you using, and what is the distance between the router and the wireless device? Are there any walls or obstacles in between?

- Finally, how often do you see the connection drop? Does it recover itself automatically?

Please get in touch with us at newegg@netgear.com. We look forward to helping you out!

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: None

Cons: It keeps disconnecting daily! I had to keep unplugging and plugging it back in to maintain connectivity. I finally got fed up and went back to my Wireless N PCI Card, much more stable and never have a connectivity issue.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Anonymous,

Do you still have the A6200? We'd like to help you get it up and running. Can you give us some more information about your setup?

- What is the wireless client/device you are trying to use to connect to it?
- What type of wireless security is in use and what band are you using?

Please get in touch with us at newegg@netgear.com and we'll be happy to get in touch with you.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: At least it works somehow...

Cons: This adapter is not compatible with ASUS RT-AC66U router. Connects on 2.4Ghz fine, cannot connect to 5Ghz network at all. Spent 2 days trying to fix it, found lots of guys with same issue but nobody knows the solution yet.

Other Thoughts: Gonna return it tomorrow and buy D-Link DWA-182

Pros: Have Netgear R6300 router. 6 computers on home network. Decided to try an 802.11ac adapter. Decided safest path was to get Netgear to go with Netgear. Before I installed the 6200 adapter, I tested old type N150 adapter: 1GB file transferred in 2.5 min. Ran test three times, got same result +/- 3 seconds. Installed 6200, connected to 5GHz output of router. Ran test with 1GB file: 70 seconds =/-3. After all the complaining in the reviews I've seen, I was very pleased with the results.

Cons: Adapter crashed in middle of one test. Would not reconnect. I had to unplug and reinsert it to get it back up and running. If this persists, I will have to rma it. Yuck!

Other Thoughts: Several reviewers have pointed out that this adapter will never approach 900 Mbps throughput because it is a USB2 device. I hereby join the chorus: it is patently dishonest for Netgear to trumpet the "900" without clearly indicating that this refers only to the adapter's receiver/transmitter speed. There are numerous other ways to position the "900" as an advantage without misleading the customer. For my N150 adapter, the bottleneck was the r/t speed. For the A6200 the bottleneck moves to the USB2. That really is progress.

Pros: I plugged it in and it was an instant improvement over my PCI slot Linksys WMP600N card which only connected at 81 mps. Now I connect to my Netgear WNDR3300 600N router at 270 MPS. In 5ghz mode I have 5 bars instead of 2-3 that I got with the Linksys card.
Can't wait to hook up the Netgear D6200 802.11AC WiFi router. I will update when I do.

Cons: Whats not to like yet. I'm happy.

Other Thoughts: So many factors can affect wireless performance. I think many of the problems reported in these reviews are system problems and not the device itself.